Two-year grant enables Library to expand collection on Islam

The University Library has been awarded a two-year grant by the U.S. Department of Education under the Foreign Periodicals Program to develop a nationally accessible collection of periodicals that chronicles the worldwide resurgence of Islam. The first year award is $74,000.

With the support of the Foreign Periodicals Program to supplement already strong collections, the Library will become one of the few national centers where scholars can be assured long-term access to vital periodical materials that document a key period in the history of Islam.

The project, which began last fall, enables the Library to extend the scope of its current collections relating to Islam through purchasing scarce journals, newspapers, newsletters and underground political publications in both Western and vernacular languages, explains Janis Apted Giannini, senior associate librarian.

Given present regional instabilities, Giannini notes, this literature might not otherwise survive. It will be an essential resource for researchers in social science, history, religion and cultural studies who are documenting and analyzing the revitalization of Islam as a key force in international affairs.

Newly acquired materials will be cataloged according to national standards and made available to scholars worldwide through OCLC, RLIN and MIRLYN.

The project is being coordinated by Mark Sandler, coordinator of Graduate Library collections and area programs along with the following subject specialists: Fe Susan Go, head of the Southeast Asia section; Allan Pollard, head of the Slavic and Eastern European section; Jonathan Rodgers, head of the Near East section; Om Sharma, head of the South Asia section; and Weiying Wan, head of the Asia library.